Cyber Incidents Are Not Just Technical Problems. They're Business Problems.

𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭-𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵: 25 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘛 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.

"We would just shut down the network," the CIO said.

"When would the finance and human resources teams be notified and brought in?" the CFO asked. "I need to ensure we have enough cash on hand to sustain operations and payroll before the network goes down.”

Silence.

This was a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, and no one had considered how a network shutdown would affect financial operations. Their incident response planning had taken place at a technical level and failed to account for the business as a whole, including finance, human resources, and operations. Unfortunately, many organizations do not discover these gaps in planning until they are attacked. 

Cyber incidents are not just technical problems—they are business problems. Executive tabletop exercises bring together key leaders from across the business — including the CEO, CFO, CIO, CTO, CISO, GC, CHRO, and others — to stress-test response plans, uncover blind spots, and ensure alignment before a real crisis occurs. 

When the pressure is on, having a plan everyone has practiced matters.